To The Core

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 pairing delivers exceptionally high frame rates in To The Core, an idle game that clearly favors GPU throughput over CPU threading. Across all measured settings and resolutions, the combination never drops below 100 FPS, with the RTX 4070’s substantial memory bandwidth and shading resources proving decisive. The data reveals a system that is heavily GPU-bound at 4K, but the CPU’s six Zen 3 cores still provide enough headroom to avoid bottlenecking at 1080p, where frame rates exceed 400 FPS on Low settings. This analysis breaks down the measured performance, contextualizes it against the component’s synthetic benchmarks, and explains what the numbers imply for gameplay.

FAQ

Q: What is the average FPS at 1080p with Ultra settings?

A: The measured average frame rate at 1920x1080 with Ultra settings is 255.2 FPS. This is the most demanding preset at that resolution, yet it still provides a very high refresh rate experience.

Q: How does the RTX 4070 compare to its closest rival in synthetic benchmarks?

A: The RTX 4070’s average benchmark score is 37283, which places it 0.6% behind the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 (score 37507) and 2.5% ahead of the AMD Radeon RX 5300M (score 36371). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 Mobile is 2.2% ahead with a score of 38135.

Q: What is the FPS difference between Low and Ultra settings at 1440p?

A: At 2560x1440, the Low preset achieves an average of 290.9 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to 169.0 FPS. This represents a performance gap of 121.9 FPS, or roughly a 42% reduction in frame rate when moving from the least to most demanding settings.

Q: Does the CPU’s multi-threaded performance impact this game’s results?

A: The data suggests minimal impact. The Ryzen 5 5500 scores 16429 in Cinebench R23 multi-core, but the game’s frame rates scale more directly with GPU settings and resolution. At 1080p Low, the system hits 428.7 FPS, indicating the CPU is not a limiting factor for this idle title.

Q: What is the combo’s rank among all tested configurations?

A: This specific combination of AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 ranks 442nd out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core. This places it in the top 25% of all configurations in the database.

Q: How much VRAM does the RTX 4070 have, and does it matter here?

A: The GPU has 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, providing 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. For this game, even at 4K Ultra (100.7 FPS), the VRAM capacity and bandwidth appear sufficient, as the performance drop from 1080p is consistent with rendering load rather than memory exhaustion.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 is the dominant component in this pairing for To The Core. Its 5888 shading units, 184 texture mapping units, and 64 ROPs are built on the Ada Lovelace architecture with a 5 nm process. The GPU’s boost clock of 2475 MHz and base clock of 1920 MHz drive a pixel rate of 158.4 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 455.4 GTexel/s. These specifications translate directly into the high frame rates observed, as the game’s rendering demands are met with substantial headroom.

The memory subsystem is equally critical. With 12 GB of GDDR6X running at an effective 21 Gbps, the 192-bit bus delivers 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth. This is particularly relevant at higher resolutions, where the GPU must access larger texture and geometry buffers. The measured data shows that at 4K Ultra, the average FPS is 100.7, while at 4K Low it jumps to 169.1. This 68.4 FPS spread indicates that the GPU’s compute and memory resources are being taxed more heavily by higher quality settings, but the memory bandwidth prevents any catastrophic drop.

The GPU’s synthetic benchmark scores reinforce its capability. A Passmark G3D score of 26927 and a Geekbench OpenCL score of 168006 place it in the 81st percentile of all GPUs. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3854 further confirms its DirectX 12 performance. In the context of To The Core, these numbers suggest that the RTX 4070 is operating well within its limits, as even the most demanding preset at 4K does not push the average below 100 FPS.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS rows, the Medium preset offers the best balance between visual fidelity and performance across all resolutions. At 1080p, Medium delivers 364.1 FPS, which is only 64.6 FPS lower than Low (428.7 FPS) but provides better visual quality. At 1440p, Medium achieves 245.9 FPS, still far above any high-refresh-rate display’s capability. Even at 4K, Medium holds 138.0 FPS, which is playable on most monitors.

The High preset is a reasonable alternative for those prioritizing quality over raw speed. At 1440p, High yields 214.9 FPS, a drop of 31.0 FPS from Medium but with improved detail. At 4K, High produces 118.8 FPS, which is still above the 100 FPS threshold for smooth gameplay. The Ultra preset, while offering maximum quality, shows diminishing returns: at 1080p it drops to 255.2 FPS, and at 4K it falls to 100.7 FPS. For most users, the Medium preset is recommended, as it maintains frame rates above 100 FPS even at 4K while offering a significant visual upgrade over Low.

How This Combo Ranks

This configuration ranks 442nd out of 1756 tested combos in To The Core, placing it in the 75th percentile of all tested systems. This is a strong position, especially considering the game’s idle genre, which typically does not stress high-end components as heavily as action titles. The rank reflects the RTX 4070’s ability to maintain high frame rates, but it also indicates that many other combinations—likely with more powerful CPUs or newer GPUs—achieve even higher scores.

The ranking is more impressive when considering the CPU’s modest position. The Ryzen 5 5500 sits in the 79th percentile of all CPUs with an average benchmark score of 20875, yet the combo still cracks the top 25% of all tested pairs. This suggests that the GPU is the primary driver of performance in this game. The nearest CPU rivals, such as the Intel Core i5-12500 (score 20897, only 0.1% ahead), show that the Ryzen 5 5500 is not a bottleneck, but its contribution to the combo’s rank is secondary to the GPU’s capabilities.

CPU Role

The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 provides six cores and twelve threads based on the Zen 3 architecture, with a base clock of 3.60 GHz and a boost clock of 4.20 GHz. Its 16 MB of L3 cache and dual-channel DDR4 memory support (51.2 GB/s bandwidth) are sufficient for feeding the GPU in this title. The CPU’s synthetic benchmarks show a single-thread score of 2319 in Cinebench R23 and a multi-core score of 16429, which is competitive with its nearest rivals.

In To The Core, the CPU’s role appears to be minimal. The frame rates scale predictably with GPU settings and resolution, with no evidence of CPU-induced stuttering or frame drops. At 1080p Low, the system achieves 428.7 FPS, a figure that would test even the fastest CPUs, yet the data shows no sign of a bottleneck. The CPU’s 3DMark scores—5386 for 16 threads and 836 for single thread—indicate balanced performance, but the game’s low computational overhead means the six cores are rarely fully utilized.

The CPU’s 65 W TDP and PCIe Gen 3 interface do not hinder performance in this context. The RTX 4070 uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 connection, but the Gen 3 link on the Ryzen 5 5500 provides sufficient bandwidth for the game’s data transfer needs. The CPU’s Passmark multi-thread score of 19330 and integer math score of 65001 further demonstrate that it can handle background tasks without impacting gaming performance.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the frame rates are exceptionally high across all settings. The Low preset leads with 428.7 FPS, followed by Medium at 364.1 FPS, High at 317.5 FPS, and Ultra at 255.2 FPS. The gap between Low and Ultra is 173.5 FPS, showing that the GPU has ample headroom at this resolution.

Moving to 2560x1440, the numbers remain robust. Low achieves 290.9 FPS, Medium drops to 245.9 FPS, High to 214.9 FPS, and Ultra to 169.0 FPS. The relative scaling is consistent, with each settings tier reducing performance by approximately 15-20%. At 3840x2160, the GPU begins to feel the load: Low yields 169.1 FPS, Medium 138.0 FPS, High 118.8 FPS, and Ultra 100.7 FPS. The 4K Ultra result is the only measurement below 100 FPS, though it is still perfectly playable.

The data reveals a linear progression with resolution and settings. From 1080p Low to 4K Ultra, the frame rate drops from 428.7 FPS to 100.7 FPS, a reduction of 328.0 FPS. This indicates that the GPU is the primary scaling factor, with the CPU maintaining consistent performance throughout.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS drop from 1080p to 4K is significant but not linear, highlighting the GPU’s role as the limiting component. At Low settings, the transition from 1080p (428.7 FPS) to 1440p (290.9 FPS) represents a 32% reduction, and further to 4K (169.1 FPS) adds another 42% drop. At Ultra settings, the same transitions show a 34% drop from 1080p (255.2 FPS) to 1440p (169.0 FPS), and a 40% drop from 1440p to 4K (100.7 FPS).

These percentages suggest that the GPU’s memory bandwidth and shading units are being saturated as pixel count increases. The RTX 4070’s 504.2 GB/s bandwidth is adequate, but the 192-bit bus is narrower than higher-tier cards, which could explain the sharper decline at 4K. The CPU’s performance remains constant across resolutions, confirming that it is not the bottleneck. The data implies that for optimal performance, users should target 1440p or 1080p, where the system comfortably exceeds 200 FPS on most settings, while 4K is viable for those prioritizing resolution over extreme frame rates.